Born this day

One of the Borgia family, notorious for their many excesses. He was believed to have reduced Rome to unparalleled depths of depravity, and the city teemed with assassins and prostitutes of both sexes. Alexander was himself much given to womanizing, having sired eight or more children, including the infamous Lucrezia Borgia, but he was apparently not averse to the charms of young men as well.

Katherine Philips(1632 – 1664) UK
Poet, who may have had a ten-year relationship with "Lucasia", from 1651 to 1661. At their more ecstatic, Philips' poems celebrate the sublime "mysteries" of love between women.

A prolific and internationally acclaimed writer. His works display his acute awareness of the social and political problems of his time and his belief in the power of human connection. Though best known for novels, he wrote numerous short stories and nonfiction works.

“Maurice,” his only novel to deal directly with a homosexual theme, was not published until a year after his death, at the author’s request. Written when homosexuality was illegal in England, the book revolved around a gay man and his relationships. Though unwilling to publish “Maurice,” Forster fought against the suppression of Radclyffe Hall’s novel about a lesbian Englishwoman, “The Well of Loneliness” (1928).

Albert Mol(1917 – 2004) Dutch
Author / Actor

James Hormel(1933 – ) US
A philanthropist and community leader who was the first openly gay United States Ambassador.